The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1887-04-16
TALMAGE'S SERMON.



Brooklyn, taking for his text: Unto the
angel OF the Church in Smyrna write:
These things saith the first and the last,
which was dead and Is alive.
know thy works. and trikulation, and
poverty, but thou art rich.-- Rev. A., 3.
smyrna was great city of the an
clients, bounded on three sides by
mountains. IL was the central empor-
ium Of the Leyantine trade. In that
prosperous and brilliant city there was
a Christian church established. After
il had existed for awhile II was rocked
down by an earthquake. IL was re-
built. Then II was consumed by a
conhagration that swept over the
entire city. That church went through
fire and trouble and disaster, but kept
on TO great spiritual prosperity. The
fact was, that church had the grace OF
God, an ever active principle. Had
il been otherwise, all the grandeur of
architecture and all the pomp of sur
roundings would only have been the
ornament Of death-the garlands of a
coffin, the plumes OF hearse
IL may be profitable to consider
what are the elements Of live church.
/ remarked in the first place that
one characteristic Of such a church is
punctuality in meeting its engage
ments. All ecclesiastical institutions
have financial relations and they
ought 10 meet their obligations just as
certainly as men meet their obligations
al the bank. When a church of God
is not as faithful in its promises as
the bank Of England, 1t ceases TO be a
church OF God. 1t ought 10 be under
stood that prayers can not paint a
church, and prayers can not pay the
winters coal bill, and prayers can not
meet the insurance.; and that while
prayers can not do thousand things,
there are a thousand things that
prayers can not do.
Prayer for any particular church
will never reach heaven-high unless IL
goes down pocket deep. In my church
az the West there was man OF com
Portable means who used TO pray for
his pastor in such elongated style that
he became a nuisance TO the prayer
meeting; asking God, in a prayer that
was almost without ceasing, that the
pastor might be blessed in his basket
and in his store, while the fact was he
never paid anything If we pray for
the advancement of the church and
do not OF our means contribute for its
advancement, our prayer is only mock
cry. Let the church of God then meet
its obligations on the outside, and let
tie members of the congregation meet
the obligations on the inside, and the
church will be financially prosperous.
Let me say, also, that there must be
puBctuality in the attendance on the
house of the Lord. There is one hymn
that ought to be sung in great many
Christian families on Sabbath morn
ing:
Early, my God, without delay,
haste to seek thy place.
Another characteristic OF live
church Is the fact that all the people par
ticipate In the exercises. A stranger
can tell by the way the first tune starts
whether there is any life thes. A
church that does not sing Is a dead
church. IL is awful 10 find cold driz-
yle of music coming down from the
organ loft, while all the people beneath
cit In silence. When a tune wanders
ABOUND, lonely and unbefriended. and
Is finally lost amid The arches because
the people do not joint In IL, there is
not much melody made unto the Lord.
Ia heaven they all sing, though some
there can not sing half as well as
others.
The Methodist church has sung an
around the world and gone from con
quest To conquest, among other things
because It is a singing church; and any
Christian church organization that with
enthusiasm performs this part Of its
dr;y viii 90 on from triumph TO
triumph. a church of God that can
sing can do anything that ought 10 be
done. We 90 forth into this holy war
with the Bible In one hand and a hymn
book In the other. O We who used TO
sing the praises Of the Lord and have
got out Of the habit, take your harps
down from the willows.
Another characteristic of a live
church Is ilourishing Sabbath school.
lt Is too late In the history of the
Christian church TO argue the benefit
Of such an institution. The Sabbath
school is not supplement to the
church; 1t Is its right arm. But you
say there are dead churches that have
Sabbath schools. Yes, but the sabbath
schools are dead, too. IL is a dead
mother holding In her arms dead
child. But when the superintendent,
and the teachers and scholars come on